Grand jury, school officials meet

Web posted Tuesday, October 31, 2000

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By Faith Johnson
Staff Writer

The Richmond County grand jury will meet Wednesday with school Superintendent Charles Larke and other system employees as a general inquiry into school system operations.

District Attorney Danny Craig and Richmond County School Board's attorney Pete Fletcher said Monday that the visit is routine.

``The grand jury - as part of its civil duties and totally unrelated to its criminal duties - is asked (by law) to pay a visit to various governmental offices and agencies at least once every three years,'' Mr. Craig said. ``In accordance with that responsibility they have notified the board of education that they want to come by and perform that function.''

Mr. Craig said the grand jury will present its findings, or "general presentments,'' Nov. 17.

He said he doesn't expect the inquiries to last longer than Wednesday.

``It's usually very brief, very general, thus the term general presentment,'' Mr. Craig said. ``(The report) would relay who they are greeted by and what type of information was presented to them and the impressions they gained from their visit.''

``There's nothing more alarming about their visit to the board of education, than any other department,'' Mr. Craig said. ``They will look at the buildings, make sure they aren't leaking; they might ask about how many people are working there. They want to know what it takes this board of education to open the doors of school every day.''

Mr. Fletcher said he's not concerned about the inquiry.

``I got a call from a grand jury member after they talked to Dr. Larke's office, and I was told they want to meet with Dr. Larke this week to ask some questions and I was told the question would be something like: `How does the zero tolerance policy work, is there any favoritism for students? How do you go about employment? How do you do the screening?'''

Mr. Fletcher said because the school system was founded before the Georgia Constitution, it cannot be investigated by a grand jury.

``My personal opinion is, I think it should be investigated,'' Mr. Fletcher said. ``The way I look at it is, the school board is a public body, so any information that's open to the public we should be happy to provide it no matter who asks.''

Board Vice President Andrew Jefferson said he has heard rumors that the board would be investigated but he said he's not concerned.

``We welcome a grand jury investigation because we don't have anything to hide,'' he said. ``We have done nothing wrong.''

Reach Faith Johnson at (706) 823-3765.

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